Bookrest



Patented Feb., l2, i924.

will@ HELEN Cr. FARNHAM, OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA.

BOCKREST.

Application led October 7, 1921. Serial Nfo. 506,185.

To all whom t may concern.'

Be it known that l, HELEN G. FARNHA'M, a citizen of the United States, resident of Minneapolis, 'county of Hennepin, State of Mini'iesota, have invented certain .new and useful improvements in Bookrests, of which the following is a specification.

The primary object of my invention is to provide a simple, inexpensive attachment for the ordinary commercial book-rest which will enable a student, teacher or lecturer to easily and quickly turn the leaves of a book andhold them in the desired position, re- `gardless of the size of the book, the number of leaves, and whether many or only a few have been turned.

A further object is to provide a'leaf-holding attachment for a bookerest which can be easily and quickly manipulated by the per-L son using the device.

ln the4 accompanying drawings forming part of this specication,-

Figure l is a plan view of the base of a book-rest, with my invention applied thereto,

Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view through the book-rest, showing the preferred manner of mounting the attachment thereon,

In the drawing, 2 represents the base of the book-rest, made of any suitable material and 3 is the tilting upper portion of the rest, hinged by any suitable means at l to the forward portion of the base and provided with a pivoted brace 5 that is adapted to engage notches 6 in the rear upper portion of the base and support the tilting part at any desired angle. The tilting part is hinged a sufficient distance in the rear of the forward edge of the base to allow the book to rest upon the base.

Various means have been provided for holding the book in position and preventing the leaves from turning prematurely, or holding those which already have been turned. Such devices have been more or less objectionable, as they are not adaptable to books of different sizes and thickness, and moreover do not have provision for adapting the leaf holder to different conditions of use; that is, they are not designed for holding the leaves when nearly all of them have been turned and one side of the book is much thicker than the other side. Such a holding means is, of course, essential for the student, teacher, or lecturer' and 7 has a depending stud l0 that is slidable in said slot and projects into a recess l1 in the base, wherein a tension spring l2 is mounted, attached at one end to the pin ll and at its opposite end to a screw or other Securing means 13 in the rear portion of the recess 1l. rhis spring resists yieldingly Vthe forward sliding movement of the plate on the surface of the base.

On each side of the plate is provided lateral and forwardly extending arms lll. terminating in upwardly projecting lingers l5 which are adapted to bear on the leaves at the lower end of the book and hold them against accidental or premature turning. These arms, as indicated by dotted lines in Figure l, may be moved forward and backward or tilted to one side or the other to adapt the leaf holding device to books of different thickness and for holding the leaves when there is a greater number on one side of the book than on the other, the plate oscillatin on a vertical axis in the slot 9 and permitting one leaf-holding linger to be swung forwardly a greater distance in front of the base and the book than the other finger, so that the user of the device can easily and quickly adapt the leaf holder for holding the leaves when nearly all of them have been turned on one side and when there are only a few remaining leaves on the other side of the book.

The plate and leaf-holding fingers are easily and quickly manipulated by grasping the upwardly turned forward portion 8 and pulling it forwardly or to either side. The device may be made in various sizes and in various ways the details of construction herein shown and described may be modified and still be within the scope of my invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. The combination, with a book-rest, of a leaf-holder for holding leaves on both sides of a book mounted thereon and adapted to be drawn forward bodily to allow the insertion of the book between the back of the rest and said holder, said leaf-holder being pivotally mounted to oscillate on the base laterally to adapt it for holding the leaves whenonly a few or more than half of the leaves have been turned.

2. In a book-rest, the combination, with a base, of a plate mounted to slide forward and backward thereon and having leafholding fingers adapted to bear on the leaves and hold them against accidental turning'` said plate being mounted to oscillate on a vertical axis to adjust said fingers for holding a greater number of leaves on one side than on the other side of the book.

3. ln a book-rest, a base having a longitudinal slot therein, a plate having a pin depending through said slot, a tension spring connected with said pin for resisting forward movement of said plate, said plate having outwardly and forwardly projecting' arms terminating in upwardly turned leafholding lingers adapted to engage andhold the leaves of a book1 and said plate having forwardly projecting finger grip between said arms.

4. The combination, with a book-rest, of a leaf-holder mounted thereon and adapted to be drawn forward bodily to allow the insertion of a book between the back of the rest and said holder, said leaf-holder having fingers having a yielding movement for gripping the leaves and pivotally mounted for movement in a direction lateral of said movement to allow one linger to grip a cornparatively large number of leaves while the other finger is gripping a comparatively small number of leaves.

5. The combination, with a book-rest, of a leaf holder pivotally and yieldingly mounted thereon for forward and backward movement and also provided for lateral. movement, said holder having means for engaging the leaves and by its pivotal and other movements being adapted to hold a relatively large number of leaves on one side of the book and a relatively small number of leaves on the other side of the booli.

6. A book rest comprising a horizontal ibase, anv inclined portion, and a yielding forwardly and backwardly movable leaf.

holding device including fingers for holding` rleaves on each side of the book, said device being pivotally mounted so as to be later- `ally tiltable on the base to adjust it to hold 

